


Change Your Ways

by Krasimer



Series: The Summerhold Chronicles [7]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: And why he is so attached to Clockwork., Backstory, I wanted to explain why Dan is still around in this 'verse, M/M, Pre-Slash, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 17:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5548286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I said, don't touch me!" Dan snarled, forcing himself backwards. His teeth clattered together, a billow of steam coming from between his lips, at odds with the frost on his cheeks. "This is miserable enough without your messing, Timekeeper!"</p><p>Clockwork sighed, waving his staff so that the windows he had opened in the time streams closed, but he said nothing. He took a deep breath, then pulled off his hood, allowing his hair to float free, the short strands moving as if stirred by a gentle breeze. When Dan didn't say anything else, Clockwork pulled off a glove, his left hand becoming bare with the motion, fingertips sliding softly over the bone of Dan's elbow. </p><p>"There is a method of keeping it from being miserable." Clockwork studied Dan's face as he spoke, his right hand still curled around his staff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Change Your Ways

"Don't touch me."

It was a hiss, an angry whisper of words that made Clockwork draw his hand back. On the floor, beneath him, curled up and glaring from the gap between his arms, was Dan. The Dark Phantom, the alternate future that had terrified Daniel Fenton so much that he had striven to be as opposite as he could, was shivering, his entire body quaking. His teeth were clenched together, his fingers digging into what they were resting on, his hands moving slowly up his arms.

He let himself float closer, his tail curling up underneath him as he settled on the floor next to the villain. 

"I said, don't touch me!" Dan snarled, forcing himself backwards. His teeth clattered together, a billow of steam coming from between his lips, at odds with the frost on his cheeks. "This is miserable enough without your messing, Timekeeper!"

Clockwork sighed, waving his staff so that the windows he had opened in the time streams closed, but he said nothing. He took a deep breath, then pulled off his hood, allowing his hair to float free, the short strands moving as if stirred by a gentle breeze. When Dan didn't say anything else, Clockwork pulled off a glove, his left hand becoming bare with the motion, fingertips sliding softly over the bone of Dan's elbow. 

"There is a method of keeping it from being miserable." Clockwork studied Dan's face as he spoke, his right hand still curled around his staff. "If you would accept my help-"

"Like you would help me!" a bitter laugh followed his words, Dan's eyes squeezing shut as a painful shiver ripped through his body. "You-" he broke off, a deep-in-his-chest cough throwing him sideways. Before he could hit the ground, Clockwork steadied him, hand making contact with the skin of his cheek. 

With a slow blink, Clockwork shrugged. "It would be better for me if I did."

"...What, it would actually benefit you to see me not struggling?" Dan scoffed. "What if I don't believe you?"

With an indulgent sigh, Clockwork adjusted the other against the wall, brushing the spectral hair out of his face. Some of the strands were made of ice, transferring frost to his own skin, while others were blazing. "You have two cores. I am quite surprised that you have lasted as long as you have, considering that they are not a natural duality."

Dan choked on his next laugh, ectoplasm spraying from his mouth. He reached up, one weak hand covering his mouth slowly. "Fire and Ice. Stubborn bastards..."

"There is, as I have said, a way to fix it." Clockwork met his eyes, his bare hand under Dan's chin as he spoke. "If you would allow me..."

"You've offered this for days now." Dan scowled. "As far as I can tell the passing of time in this tower of yours, anyways. Why do you keep offering when I keep saying no?" he shifted, head thumping against the stone of the wall, making him wince. "What if I am content to just force you to watch me fade away?"

Clockwork ran a hand through Dan's hair, swirling it together into a braid-like arrangement. "Perhaps I am hoping that you will simply prove yourself as stubborn as your parents."

"They're not my-" Dan huffed, eyebrows lowering as he made a face, a deepset frown making him look more like Vlad. "I suppose they are, actually." he went silent for a while, eventually leaning his face into Clockwork's hand. "...Will it hurt?"

"Clarify?"

"...Fading." Red met red, Dan's face going soft, looking for a moment like an echo of the boy he had once been. "Will it hurt to Fade?"

"A little." Clockwork stroked his hair, studying his face. "There is nothing afterwards. You simply...Fall asleep, and then there is nothing more. You slip apart, your atoms become a part of something else."

"It sounds a little familiar." Dan heaved himself upright, grunting with the effort, his arms shaking. "Is it too late to ask for help?"

Shaking his head, Clockwork's bare hand slipped down to rest on his chest. "It never will be too late." his fingers turned intangible, slipping beneath the layer of cloth over Dan's chest. "This too will hurt."

"I'll survive this one." 

Clockwork's entire hand slipped into Dan's chest, both of them wincing as he grabbed hold of something inside. "That you will."

Dan's eyes were wide as he stared back at Clockwork, his fists clenching uselessly at his sides. When they rolled back in his head and he fainted, Clockwork pulled his hand away, floating upwards slowly and pulling Dan with him. A bed appeared where he normally sat and he slid the unconscious phantom into it, tucking him in gently. 

As Dan slept, Clockwork opened a window in time, studying the image.

"Time will tell if you like how you change." Clockwork whispered, watching the future unfold before him.

**Author's Note:**

> Not dead, not abandoning things. Sorry it took so long to update, but I have started college and last month was spent doing finals and trying to write my second book. I succeeded at both of these things.
> 
> Tell me what you think?


End file.
